Hi all, Currently planning a trip and wondering what everyone's opinion is on taking kids out of school?

We were looking at 6-8 weeks but now I have realised that Term 4 (nsw) is only 9 weeks and the teacher would like her to be there for the first week of Term 1 so she can be evaluated for end of year report.

DD is only in kindy but somehow I can't help but feel incredibly guilty for pulling her out?? On one hand I think "it's only kindy" and the other hand I think of how much she has learnt this year already, it's the basic foundation for the rest of school really.

Arrrrrrgh!! I don't know what to do, shorten the trip? We will take work with us so perhaps I am just over thinking it all??

Just leave later/earlier so some of the holiday is during school holidays?

I know every kids different, but I used to get pulled out of school a week or two early every few years to go on family holidays, even in high school, never bothered me (of course!) and still got good marks. I never missed a whole term though.

Yes including part of the school holidays would be the way to go, unfortunately hubby is being made redundant so the timing isn't our choice really, although we could perhaps stretch it to the beginning of next year although the teacher thought that might be more disruptive as she will miss the settling in etc for the beginning of the year. The teacher is quite happy to give us work and said she could keep a daily diary to keep her writing skills going etc. Not sure you can actually do homeschooling for one term? Something I will look into though. Thanks Ozzy

When i was in year 5 we went on a holiday for a month i think 2 or 3 weeks of it was 'school time' but i was given a list of what i had to do to keep in touch with the class.. was good.. i could do what i wanted in the day and do some school work at night.. didn't take up much time at all.......from what i remember lol

Personally, I think it's fine. Our son is in year 5 and we are thinking of taking him out of school next year for 4 weeks to go touring around Europe. Given your hubby's circumstances, I would do it and mix in some home schooling. Kids gain just as much from life experiences as they do from school work and teachers are generally cool with it.

Hi, I think taking them out of school is fine, we have taken out kids on holidays several times for 6 weeks in 2000 and 2003(including school holidays) our kids were in primary and early secondary.All teachers said they will learn and experience far more going travelling.The teachers asked them to do a diary of their holiday, write a brief story and add a postcard or brouchure for each day.They still recall some of the amazing things they did and of course there parents do too.

I think it's fine. As above people have said they learn more on the road than they do in the class room anyway. Ask the teacher for any things you can do to add to your trip. I had 4 kids on Distance Ed (yrs 5 to 9) while we traveled for year(1997) but there wasn't a real lot of school time going on compared to the time they would have spent in the class room. They learnt a lot more and were well ahead of all the other kids when we returned back to normal school plus they learnt life skills that can't be taught in a class room. They still use all those skills today now they have grown and famillies of their own.Enjoy your trip

mummeee74 wrote:Hi all, We were looking at 6-8 weeks but now I have realised that Term 4 (nsw) is only 9 weeks and the teacher would like her to be there for the first week of Term 1 so she can be evaluated for end of year report.

call me thick but I can't understand this!

on the general topic, we took our 5 & 8yo's out for the whole of term 3 and they learnt heaps. 2 years later they still identify stuff they saw or did. They see places on tele or in books and talk about them. Youngest got a 'plush toy' crocodile which he still worships. Named it after the one we say in the Adelaide River. The 8yo (now 10) just got a High Distinction on some state wide maths test he did and does extremely well at school in general. Missing a term hasn't hurt him.

I don't quite understand the scenario either, but I don't see it as an issue. Perhaps if the child is already behind in their schooling then it would be an issue.I was out of school for 3 consecutive months in grade 5 when our family travelled around Australia. Was the BEST experience and even though I was only 11 at the time I remember lots of it. I remember even going and seeing the "School of the Air" and listening in a bit. That was interesting.I was also out of school for 3 consecutive months in grade 6 when our family travelled around Europe - again, it's stuff you can never compare school to. And what did I choose to do when I left school - go to Uni. What profession? Teaching! In school you can read about it in books, but living it is entirely different. The culture, languages, literacies (reading signs, visiting museums, writing journals, postcards, talking about the things you see and gaining a greater vocabulary and repetoire), maths (how much should it cost? What time would we need to leave?)... it really is the experience.

[quote="Young Camping Family"]I don't quite understand the scenario either, but I don't see it as an issue. Perhaps if the child is already behind in their schooling then it would be an issue.quote]Even that is not really an issue. My son was a year behind and had a lot of trouble reading. Maths he was fine with but not reading. While we were away we made him read everything, signs, maps, instruction books and all sorts. He was doing graphic art and had to read coz we didn't do it for him and he was getting A's in that subject on Distance Ed. When we got back to a high school the teachers made it so hard for him he gave it up. I was saddened by that and very mad at the school. He reads a lot better now than any school could have taught him and it was that he saw things and wanted to know how things worked so he had to read as well as learnt from loads of people we met along our travels from all walks of life. I would say that traveling helped my son more than any school could help him. He's never been without a job and left school at yr 10. He's now 26 with his own family and house and more than i have had in the same time frame. So yeah traveling is something that is the best education you could possibly give or do with your kids even if it's only weekend camping trips.

IMHO kids lear more from a touring trip than from school. For instance you cand teach them about geography and history using as a tool the places you go. (Anyway it's seems that you'll have to prepare yourself beforehand). Also you can teach them about native flora and fauna. More, you can make them to keep a daily diary (so they exercise their writing skills and creativity). On top throw in a good mathematics exercises book and you can't go wrong.

Probably it will be good idea to have a progress in travelling. Instead of planning for a 1 year big trip, try 2 months first time, then with next opportunity 6 months and then only 1 year.

Interesting responses and I do certainly agree children would learn from a long trip, I know they learn a lot on the short trips we take.

Anyway in case anyone was wondering we decided the timing wasn't right for a big trip at the moment for various reasons. We have taken a couple of short trips though and have another few planned before the end of the year, we are even leaving the camper at home for one of them (eeek that's going to be interesting!). Partly I have to say I did find it hard to take DD out of kindy, makes me a bit strange I guess It's all still on the agenda though, just postponed

Several times we have been on holidays for a month or so we have taken our kids (primary school) out of school, the teachers were always very supportive. They gave them a little bit of work to do and asked them to make a diary for each day of our travels, whic is great to keep and look back on.Taking them on a road trip is a great experience for everyone.